Stealing Hydrant Parts
We had this article on standby for late last week, but events kind of drove it off the radar:
DETROIT (WXYZ) — Thieves have destroyed nearly 75 fire hydrants on the west side of Detroit in the last 48 hours, stealing parts and putting lives at risk.
Crews with the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department are racing to repair the broken hydrants along Southfield Road and across the west side after thieves tore through dozens in about two days.
"We think the number is about 75 so far," DWSD Deputy Director Sam Smalley said.
The thieves are targeting metal nozzles and stems on top of the hydrants, which are worth about $600.
Just when people are saying Detroit has turned a corner, you get something like this, endangering the entire community for a few bucks worth of metal (that $600 price tag is the retail price for the machined part and labor to install - scrap brass goes for under $3 per pound). But it's Detroit, where they used to burn down a couple hundred abandoned buildings pre-Halloween every year....until they ran out of buildings.
Chicago might end up there yet.
Labels: crime, out-of-state
posted by SCC at 12:01 AM
37 Comments:
Damn Mormon kids probably.
But....
If one crack head gets their fix.....
Is it not worth it ?
Detroit isn’t alone. Chicago has its share of idiots, including wire thieves. They climb poles to steal copper wire, but their plans take a turn for the worse. The thief cuts a live wire spontaneously electrocuting the thief, becoming a crispy critter. Or the countless other antics of thieves in their quest for money. Invariably a small Christmas tree up in the Area always had at least one photo of a crispy critter, along with other photos of stupidity, decorating the tree.
I remember when the bums (or what's the woke term today-homeless, unhoused, not homed?) would strip the electrical wiring out of a building put it in a 55 gallon drum, set it on fire to burn the insulation off the copper wire so the scrap yard would accept it. Pulling wiring out of electrical is really laborious. I would rather bag groceries or work for the police dept. No strike that, too many pitfalls working as the police!
Google the bird's eye view of the vast empty lots/acreage just waiting for someone to what?
"Karen Bass can’t catch copper thieves, so she’s going to pick your pockets"
LADailyNews.com. Apr 26, 2026
Not to worry, Sanctuary Democrat Mayor Karen Bass ( she vacationed while LA burned down last year) of Los Angeles is just going to pass the cost of the urban pirates on to the homeowners. Why would you arrest these theives when you can up the taxes on the taxpayers.
I’m waiting for them to do it here. With the Safety Act not much will happen. Criminals know they have the upper hand.
All these stories I see about "Detroit Making a Comeback!" I watch a rehab company on YouTube from Detroit. Still looks like a sh*thole!
Well, now that you told Chicago they could get 3 bucks it will...
We had an outbreak of these on the north side years ago.
That’s change we can believe in
Detroit would be smart to elect St. Jude as their next mayor, the patron saint of the hopeless case.
I said this years ago. Detectives tour scrap yards. Every catatlic converter they find is a $3000 fine. If there is no outlet to sell them the crime will stop
That has been going on here for years. In 011, 012 and old 013 every block has 1 0r 2 hydrants damaged.
South Africa has the same problem
Spread like hot cakes got really hairy for awhile.
Are there any brick thieves left?
Now, kees me you fool!!!!
When Mag Mile runs out they’ll start on the hydrants.
STOP demonizing.
These children's brains have not stopped developing.
We’d Singapore style caning punishment for sh$& like this .
I m going to make an effort to contact the NOI on this issue .
IMO we need to at least start thinking of alternative Justice
I believe it's illegal for scrap yards to accept hydrant parts. And the blast furnace won't accept them either.
You can walk the streets downtown Detroit without the chance of being eaten alive.
Whose buying it - charge them with being complicit!!!!
Locking ring with special purpose key way is always a good start
When you see a cap off a hydrant—- you guessed it.
Brass ring stolen.
I’ve reported 100’s
Several hundred $ per hydrant to replace.
Westsiders were stealing manhole covers and selling them for scrap. A CTA bus hit the opened sewer and the bus was disabled and the bus driver claimed permanent disability. The bus was unoccupied at the time, however 5 locals claimed injury
That there has to have some secret meaning known only to those who know.
😳😳😳
I've been told that they no longer accept copper wire that had the insulation burned off. You have to strip it now.
Nice shot!
That said, Chicago has not hit bottom yet, not to worry, they will dig, dig, dig to a depth of no escape...
IMO, Detroit has a shot at recovery, Chicago, not so much.
‘All Pried Off The Wall’: Man Arrested For Allegedly Desecrating Police, Veterans’ Memorials
Police arrested a California man for allegedly tearing bronze stars and plaques from memorials honoring fallen law enforcement officers and veterans across Solano County.
The Peace Officers Memorial located in Fairfield, California, was vandalized when stars and plaques honoring 21 law enforcement officers who lost their lives while serving were stolen, according to a Solano County Sheriff’s Office (SCSO) statement. Plaques were allegedly also taken from the Veterans Memorial. Officials took Joshua Gonzales, 40, of Vallejo into custody on April 30 after a multi-agency team executed a search warrant at a home on the 200 block of Howard Avenue...Investigators allegedly found damaged memorial materials inside.
“As the detectives showed up on scene, (they) actually heard the grinding taking place while they were setting up on the house to execute some search warrants,” SCSO Sheriff Brad DeWall told KCRA 3. “He was in the midst of either grinding up the names or cutting the material.”
Sgt. Rex Hawkins, the SCSO’s spokesman, told the New York Post that officers recovered “hundreds of pounds of cut metal from the memorial thefts.”
https://dailycaller.com/2026/05/01/joshua-gonzales-arrested-desecrating-police-veterans-memorials-solano-county-california/
Don’t replace them.
Had a fire one time across the street from JR Metals at 71st and Bell. Two hypes had a shopping cart full of gas meters that they had sawzalled off abandoned buildings. (Sometimes they did it above the valve, sometimes not.) The problem here isn’t the hypes, it’s the thief that buys the scrap. Turn a couple of companies loose on the guy that runs the scrap yard, I bet they won’t take hydrant parts any more.
You don't need to remove insulation. You just get less money for it.
Back around 2000 the theives were stealing the huge 1 inch thick steel street plates covering water dept excavations. They are places over the holes with a backhoe. Of course cars fell in the holes and sued the shitty. It's amazing how hard lazy welfare bums can work when they're stealing. 😴
Crooks are posing yet ANOTHER threat to EV adoption in America
Thieves are targeting valuable copper in charging cables across the country
Thieves are targeting charging stations and stealing the cables. This can mean the loss of $1,000-plus cables - but there is an even bigger knock-on effect.
Crooks cutting wires can disable entire stations - forcing owners to search desperately for another working charger that might be miles away.
So-called 'range anxiety', slow charging and a lack of public stations have long put Americans off switching to EVs - despite tax credits from President Biden.
And now broken down chargers are exacerbating the problem.
The price of copper is near a record high on global markets, so criminals stand to collect rising sums of cash from selling the material.
But while it costs $1,000 to replace a charging cable, authorities say, thieves only stand to make $20 reselling the metal.
Thieves have been caught on camera in Seattle targeting an EV charging station on the edge of a shopping center parking lot.
CCTV footage shows them using bolt cutters to snip several charging cables and load them into a truck - all in just a few minutes.
&c., &c.
https://www.dailymail.com/yourmoney/electric-vehicles/article-13522303/threat-electric-vehicle-ownership-Americans.html
Inevitable...
That never ceases to amaze me. Why can't they use that energy and spend a day filling out job applications?
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